


Thirium Pressure

by ahyperactivehero (ahyperactiverhero)



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Connor (Detroit: Become Human) Whump, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Good Parent Hank Anderson, Poor Connor (Detroit: Become Human), Protective Hank Anderson, Sick Fic, Vomiting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-12
Updated: 2018-11-12
Packaged: 2019-08-22 14:42:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16599881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ahyperactiverhero/pseuds/ahyperactivehero
Summary: Connor's thirium pump is damaged, which causes his thirium pressure to increase and his body to purge it in the only way it knows how.





	Thirium Pressure

Chasing down escaping criminals was something Connor would never get tired off. Literally, as he was an android, and figuratively as it was just something that he thoroughly enjoyed. It was intelligently stimulating, as well as a good test of his motor capabilities.

“Fuck!” Hank said, as he tripped over a crack in the cement.

It was not, however, something Hank was a fan of, nor did he enjoy doing.

“I’ll get him!” Connor said, pushing his legs to go a little faster. “You just be ready to arrest them when you get there!” 

He could hear Hank cursing under his breath, something about not being useless and that Connor needed to stop being a brat, but Connor didn’t have time to listen to him, as he was quickly pulling away from Hank and catching up to the suspect.

It didn’t take long catch up to the suspect. Aaron Thomas, age thirty-seven, was a well known anti-android activist who had been attacking androids left and right. Pre-Revolution his job had been taken by an android. After the revolution he’d been unable to find work due to the gap in his employment history.

_As if that is somehow our fault_ , Connor thought as he cornered the man.

“Stay back!” Thomas yelled, holding his hand behind his back as Connor approached. “Or I swear I’ll shut you down.”

Connor held his hands up in an attempt to calm the suspect. His eyes never wavered from Thomas’s hands where it was located halfway behind his back.

“There’s no way out of this, Aaron,” Connor said, his full negotiator voice coming out. “You’re under arrest for the murder of-”

Before he could say anything else, the suspect made a lunge for him, his hand whipping out from behind him. Something solid and metal was jabbed into his chest, with something feeling like a bolt of lightning going off inside of his center.

He screamed, falling to his knees as the agony of the man’s taser went through him. Red errors popped up in his vision, blotting out the rest of the world.

“Freeze!” Hank’s voice rang out above everything else. Aaron moved, possibly towards Hank, but was soon stopped by a bullet to his leg. 

“Fuck!” Aaron yelled, dropping down a few feet from Connor.

The sounds of Hank calling to dispatch came to him over the roar and buzzing in his ears. “Connor?” Hank yelled, running over to where Connor had fallen. “Connor! Are you okay?”

Against it all, he managed to push himself up onto weak, trembling arms. The taser had not had enough electricity to shut him down like the human had been hoping, but it did have enough juice in it to stun him and mess with his systems.

“I-” he opened his mouth, prepared to explain all of this to Hank when something seemed to twitch with his systems.

**> SCANNING_SYSTEMS**

**> SYSTEM_DAMAGE**

**> DAMAGED_THIRIUM_PUMP**

**> SYSTEM_PRESSURE_HIGH**

His systems were backing up, damage caused from the taser forcing his thirium pump to pump too strongly. His thirium was being purged from his system the only way it knew how.

Something very similar sounding to a human cough came from his lips, splattering blue blood all across the ground like a fine mist. It came again, this time thicker and dribbling down his chin.

“Shit!” Hank jumped as the thirium sprayed out, not quite quick enough to avoid all of it. He used one of his sleeves to brush away some of the blood from his mouth and tried to ignore the way it made his own stomach churn at the sight of it.

“What’s wrong? What happened?” he asked, his fear easily recognizable under his confusion. “What can I do?”

“He tased me,” Connor finally said, spitting out the last of the thirium from his mouth. “My systems are trying to pump my thirium too fast, leading to too much pressure. This is the easiest way for it to get rid of some of the pressure.”

“This is your blood, Con!” Hank yelled. “Is this dangerous for you?” He wiped Connor’s mouth again before trying to help him to his feet.

The sudden change in perspective caused another bout of vertigo that forced thirium up his throat.

“Hank,” Connor said before throwing up thirium all over the concrete again.

**> SCANNING_SYSTEMS**

**> THIRIUM_LEVELS_LOW**

**> THIRIUM_LEVEL_76_PERCENT**

“Shit,” Hank muttered under his breath. Thankfully, about that time Officer Miller and Officer Chen pulled up, having heard the distressed radio message from Hank.

“The asshole tased him,” Hank said, by way of explaining once he caught sight of his concerned face looking at Connor. “He’s got a gunshot wound to the leg.”

Officer Miller nodded his head, understanding what Hank was getting at. It only took a few moments before he’d managed to handcuff the suspect and, along with Officer Chen, force him into the back of their squad car so they could transport him to the hospital to get help before bringing him to the precinct.

“We’re gonna go home,” Hank said gesturing to Connor. “I’ll send in our reports later.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Officer Miller said. “Just take care of him, okay?”

Hank looked over to Connor, taking in his head limply hanging from his shoulders and the blue blood that was spread out over him. His heart constricted at the sight, the idea that this was the literal life blood of Connor being spread out into the open air like it was nothing was enough to make him want to vomit.

“I’m fine,” Connor said, although it was obvious that he wasn’t. Damn android, he’d probably say that he was just fine even if he was cut in half.

“Sure ya are,” Hank said as he helped the android into his car. “I’m sure this is a good sign.”

Connor didn’t even protest as he was eased into the passenger's seat, something Hank couldn’t even begin to wrap his head around. The kid would argue with God to have the last word, so the fact that he had gone suspiciously quit now was enough to worry Hank.

“My thirium pump might need a new part, or to at least be repaired,” Connor murmured a few minutes into their ride home. “And with my systems the way they are right now, I don’t know if I can make them.”

Hank glanced over at him, concern on his face. “What does that mean? Do we need to take you to Jericho?” he asked.

There was a pause, a silence that hung in the air that only helped to ratchet up Hank’s worries. Connor’s LED flickered red, yellow, red, yellow, yellow as he scanned himself, trying to figure out what exactly was wrong with him.

“No,” he said eventually. “It shouldn’t be anything life threatening. It’s just that I don’t know if I can-” His hand flew to his mouth as he tried to prevent his thirium from surging up his throat again.

“Fuck,” Hank said as he watched the thirium leak from around Connor’s fingers. There wasn’t enough time to pull over or anything that he could do other than watch as Connor threw up on himself again.

“Agreed,” Connor said miserably. He looked exactly like a little kid who was sick, his strand of hair dangling into his face. “Sorry about your car.”

Hank shook his head. “That’s not important, kid,” Hank said. “I’m just worried about you right now.”

Connor nodded. There wasn’t much else he could do right now without wanting to purge everything from his systems.

“Once we get home I’ll need to drink some more thirium,” he said, trying to stay as still as possible in his seat so as to minimize his movement and the spread of the thirium. “Then I should be able to self-repair while in rest-mode.”

“But you’ll be okay?” Hank asked. “You won’t need to go to Jericho or order any new parts?” 

It was touching that Hank cared so much. It was also unnecessary, Connor felt, as it’s not like there was anything majorly wrong with him. A few hours in self-repair and he’d be fine.

“I’m fine, Hank,” Connor said.

“Yeah, well the blood all over you says otherwise,” Hank muttered but didn’t argue anymore than that.

Once they got home Hank immediately set out to get Connor some clean clothes while he cleaned himself up. Sumo followed Connor around, sniffing at the stains on his clothes. Eventually they would evaporate and all that would be left would be a bad memory, but for now they were the most interesting things in the entire world to their dog.

“Here,” Hank said. He tossed a hoodie to Connor, one he knew the android liked even if he never wanted to admit it. The android caught it with one hand, smiling at the soft material.

“Thanks,” Connor said, sliding it on. He eased himself down onto the couch as slowly as he could. His systems still felt a little fragile, like they might try and purge some more of his thirium, but for now he seemed to be stable.

“I’ll get you some blue blood,” Hank said. “You just stay there.”

Connor had no intent to move, but nodded his head anyways. He knew that Hank needed to feel like he was doing something, feel like he was being useful, and Connor had no intentions of making him feel otherwise.

A moment later and Hank was back, handing him a bottle of thirium. The thought of consuming even an ounce of the liquid was enough to start Connor’s systems turning, but his thirium levels were low enough that it was likely to interfere with his self-healing systems if he didn’t.

“Drink this and then you can go to sleep,” Hank said, his voice soft as he took in Connor’s appearance. He was so young looking that sometimes Hank couldn’t help but wonder why the hell someone had designed him to ever be a detective. The kid looked young enough to be a beat cop, a rookie who was just starting out, not an experienced member of the police force. And he looked a hell of a lot younger and a lot more miserable now that he was sick.

“Thanks,” Connor almost slurred as he limply took the bottle from him. He drank from it, tiny sips at a time until it was halfway gone. There was no way he’d be able to drink anymore, even if he wanted to. His systems were beginning to go haywire again, which meant that he should probably enter rest mode.

“I’m going to…” Connor said, trailing off as his he entered stasis.

Hank brushed his hair back from his face as he eased Connor the rest of the way back onto the couch. He pulled the blanket from the back of the couch and covered him up, tucking in him just the same way he used to tuck Cole in when he was sick.

“Goodnight, Con,” he said. Standing up, he began readying himself for bed, although he knew that sleep was not going to be coming easily tonight. He’d be far too worried and anxious about Connor for that.

XXX

It was completely dark outside and absolutely quiet in the house when Hank was startled awake. There was something, some noise that was loud enough and out of the ordinary enough that it had somehow managed to break through his hard fought sleep.

There it was again, something sounding like it was in… pain?

_Connor!_

The thought broke through, enough to finish waking him up. Where was Connor? Was that Connor that had made that sound?

Sumo sniffed his hand, making sure to rouse him from the last few moments of sleep. He patted the dog’s head, a silent thank you for making sure that he was awake when Connor needed him.

He looked over to the couch from his spot in his chair, but couldn’t see Connor anywhere. The blanket was bunched up on the floor, a tangled mess leading down the hall. A light shone out from under the door to the bathroom, letting him know exactly where Connor had gone.

“Con?” Hank asked, knocking softly on the door. The sound of retching came to his ears, letting him know what exactly had woken him up.

There was a flush and then a muffled ‘come in’. Hank pushed the door open, quickly taking in Connor’s form slumped up against the toilet. He looked strange, his skin almost translucent white due to his lack of thirium.

“Sorry I woke you up,” Connor said. “My systems decided that there was too much pressure again.”

Hank shook his head. “There’s nothing to be sorry for, kid,” he said. He noticed the half-cleaned up mess of thirium on the counter from where Connor must have originally missed the toilet. “In fact, I wish you woulda woke me up. I coulda helped you.”

Connor swallowed thickly, his throat moving oddly in response. “Humans require at least seven to nine hours of sleep a night, with older adults needing more as they-”

“Shut up,” Hank said. He grabbed a washcloth from the counter and tried to clean the thirium from his face. “I’ve had my fair share of sleepless nights and they ain’t killed me yet. I’m sure one more won’t hurt.”

Connor nodded and sat up. “The good news is, my healing program has nearly finished. I think it just needed one last purge before it could restart.”

“So you’re gonna be okay now?” Hank asked, offering the android his hand. “We get some more thirium in you and you’ll be fine?”

Connor nodded as he accepted his hand gratefully. “Yeah, that should be it.”

It was slow going getting him back to the couch. Obviously, Connor was worried about making his condition worse despite his repaired status. He sat down on the couch gingerly, grimacing once Sumo hopped back up onto the couch and jostled him. The kid was basically an open book, all of his emotions spread out on his face.

Another bottle was handed to him as Hank placed the blanket back around him. He picked up the remote and turned the TV before sitting down next to Connor and burrowing under the blankets with him.

“Hank?” Connor asked, confusion in his voice.

“Don’t worry about anything, kid,” Hank said. “I’m gonna stay up with you.” The guilty look on Connor’s face made Hank continue before he could say anything. “Besides, I’ve been missing my late night trash TV since you’ve made me start going to bed early.”

Connor opened his mouth to say something, but eventually just nodded his head. A soft smile came to his face as he leaned back against the back of the couch, the bottle of thirium to his lips.

“Thanks, Hank,” he said quietly.

Hank ruffled his hair. “Any time, kid.”

**Author's Note:**

> So I decided to post this, but don't worry, I'm still working on Losing Your Memory Now! If you'd like to see more stories like this, or request a story, or even just talk dbh, I'm on tumblr with the user name ahyperactivehero!


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